Sunday, August 4, 2013

Combitasking: When Multitasking Is Not Only Okay, but Necessary

“Linguist Naomi Baron made this point over lunch with Will—a lunch where he managed to take notes, eat his meal, and soak up the atmosphere at a fashionable Washington, D.C., restaurant, even as music was playing in the background. Baron used the analogy of a car. ‘We simultaneously look forward, check out the rearview and side mirrors, steer, operate the gas and brake, and glance at the speedometer, and yet don’t call this multitasking. We call it driving.’ Her distinction was between pursuing single and multiple goals.”

—David Shipley and Will Schwalbe, Send: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better.